Blog

Next week’s Northern Powerhouse Conference has only 13 women amongst the 98 speakers and there’s been uproar. The conference organisers are saying ‘don’t look at us, look at the organisations who we asked to put forward their experts’. Commentators are concluding that it’s either that these organisations don’t have female experts to contribute to this agenda or they’re not choosing women as their best option to speak. However, there is a third option, which is that women aren’t putting themselves forward as the expert. The reality is likely to be a combination of all three factors.

Evidence is now overwhelming that the financial performance of companies with a ‘critical mass’ of women at the top is significantly better compared to those without, and yet research shows that companies implementing gender diversity strategies aren’t making significant progress. Even the best UK companies – the FTSE 350 - still have fewer than 10% of the executive director roles filled by women. Against this background, we are launching The Women’s Sat Nav to Success Survey 2017 which will provide a detailed analysis of where women are against the most potent and strategic enablers of success, measuring how this affects levels of engagement with their employer and attitudes to career progression.

One of the most consistent themes in coaching sessions with ambitious women is an enormous frustration about feeling that their views, achievements and capabilities are not respected. These driven individuals think that they are giving their all and doing great work that should demand the attention and respect but feel that they are performing to an empty house. Does it matter to anyone but those individuals? Are they asking too much?

We are delighted that the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) are supporting our Women’s Sat Nav to Success Survey 2017.

The challenges that face women in the workplace can be both complex and subtle so it would be insulting to suggest that there are easy or obvious solutions. However, our deep and detailed research has identified the most powerful portfolio of enablers of success.

Progress on gender diversity initiatives which involve development support for women often stumbles right at the starting gate. There’s a debate about how you can propose development support that’s just for women. Isn’t that gender discrimination too, but in this case in favour of women? Should you focus on other parts of your gender diversity strategy and keep away from drawing this double-edged sword?

Archive

Categories

Archive by Date

About Us

The Women’s Sat Nav to Success™ provides proven routes through the labyrinth to career fulfilment and success. It provides the truth about the situation for many women today and practical strategies for women to achieve all they aspire to and merit at work. In doing so it delivers gender diversity for organisations and rewarding careers for individual women.